The present invention relates to insulated roofing and siding systems.
The rapidly rising costs of building construction, and in particular the labor costs involved in such construction, have greatly intensified the need for building systems which can be installed rapidly and with a minimum amount of field labor.
As discussed in my previous patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,995, a variety of roofing and siding systems have been developed which can be installed in a more or less efficient manner, thereby reducing construction costs. Such roofing and siding systems provide an outer, weather resistant skin for the building structure which is installed over a ceiling or wall and conventional insulation if any. That patent illustrates an improved such system for providing roofing and siding for a building which can be installed in a highly efficient manner, and provides a very effective weatherproof outer covering for the building.
The metal roofing and siding systems known in the art, as typified by my U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,995, are generally installed over a surface cover such as a plywood skin installed on the building before the metal roofing or siding is added. If the building is to be insulated, the insulation is installed beneath the plywood surface cover. Installation of the plywood surface cover and the insulation must be performed by hand in the field, increasing the labor costs involved in constructing the building. In addition, the underside of the insulation must be covered if it is in the public view because the insulation by itself is quite unsightly, further adding to the costs of construction.
The present invention provides an improved roofing and siding system in which the system includes provisions for insulating the supporting structure.
A plurality of elongated insulation bins are located side by side on the roof or wall of the supporting structure. Each bin has a flat base and vertical side walls defining a cavity in which insulation material can be inserted. A plurality of elongate plates are located over the respective bins, and the edges of the plates snap into incurved portions on the associated bins to enclose the cavities which contain the insulation material. Each plate has an upwardly directed flange at each of its lateral edges having an outwardly directed C-shaped section juxtaposed to adjacent such sections on adjoining plates. A plurality of discrete clips attach the insulation bins and plates to the supporting structure. Battens are snapped over adjacent flanges on contiguous lateral edges of the plates to provide weatherproofing for the roofing and siding systems.
This system is easy to install because all of the parts snap together, and only the clips must individually be attached to the supporting structure if such a supporting structure is used. Open insulation bins are provided for the insulation material, and the insulation material is simply poured or otherwise inserted therein. The bins are then enclosed by snapping the cover plates in place. The elements are free to slide longitudinally with respect to one another to allow for differential expansion.
The simplicity with which the system of the present invention can be installed in this field greatly decreases installation costs. The system of the present invention also eliminates the separate step of installing insulation material. Moreover, with the system of the present invention, it is not necessary to install a surface cover on the structure before installing the roofing and siding. Instead, the roofing and siding system of the present invention can be mounted to widely spaced purlins, or in some instances, may even be free standing. The box structure provided by the present invention is far more rigid than prior art roofing and siding systems, and can be used as a structural element, and not merely as a weatherproof skin.
The novel features which are characteristic of the invention, as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanied drawings which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.